Ebola highlights CDC fund crunch

October 2, 2014 by Brett Norman Politco

CDC’s discretionary budget was about $5.8 billion in 2014, down from nearly $6.4 billion in 2010. Some other money including prevention funds in Obamacare filled some of the gap. The CDC’s total budget was $6.9 billion in 2010 and is projected to be $6.6 billion in 2015, according to Senate aides.

Public health advocates say cuts to specific programs have been troubling. Since an infusion of preparedness funding following the Sept. 11, 2001 and anthrax attacks, a program for hospital preparations for infectious disease outbreaks and other disasters has dropped from $515 million in 2003 to $358 million last year, according to Trust For America’s Health. State and local health departments disaster preparation funds were slashed by roughly a third, from about $1 billion to $623 million, in the same period. The Trust estimates that more than one in five state and local health department jobs — more than 50,000 — were lost between 2008 and 2012.